LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Tolls and higher taxes -- that's the idea gaining key support that could see Louisville paying for new Ohio River bridges here and near Cincinnati.

The Brent Spence Bridge links Northern Kentucky to southern Ohio on Interstate 71. President Obama stood on it in 2011 talking about how it needs to be replaced.

If one developer has his way, Louisville taxpayers could get slapped with part of the bill. "The proposal is we raise the sales tax by one cent to seven cents -- or one percent," says Math Toebben, a developer with Math Toebben Construction.

Toebben doesn't just want to increase the state sales tax. He also wants to restructure the gas tax, saving Kentucky drivers about ten cents a gallon. By Toebben's estimates, the proposed changes would generate $350 million more tax revenue each year in Kentucky -- enough to avoid tolls on the Brent Spence Bridge and fund other road projects in Kentucky.

State Rep. Jim Wayne, a Louisville Democrat, says, "The main reason it's a bad idea is because a sales tax is the most regressive tax we can have. And that means it hurts working class people and the poor much more heavily than it does the wealthy."